Dr. Richard Shane, a Boulder psychotherapist, developed Sleep Easily, which is a learn-at-home method to help resolve insomnia.

Shane now works as a cognitive sleep therapist with New West Physicians group, but he no longer sees patients because he is working full-time to bring Sleep Easily to anyone who is suffering from insomnia.

Launched in February, Sleep Easily does not involve hypnosis or medication, relying instead on teaching people physical triggers to induce sleep. The method combines audio recordings, a guidebook and specialized tools to help users sleep.

A National Sleep Foundation poll estimates that 35 percent of American adults experience at least one symptom of insomnia almost every night.

1.What is your background with insomnia and sleep therapy?

Shane has been a psychotherapist since the late 1970s and after enduring a 'life crisis' Shane developed insomnia himself.

By finding his way through his own insomnia, Shane discovered that an essential piece of being able to fall asleep was through certain body sensations. Through mapping these sensations Shane discovered ways to make the body feel asleep. Once the body feels asleep, he said, the mind will follow.

2.How did you develop the idea for Sleep Easily?

Through his own experience with insomnia, Shane delved into numerous studies and conducted research on the physiology of sleep. Shane went even further by analyzing his patients' sleep problems and using their feedback to refine the sleep method through an ongoing process.

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"The biggest reason that people have trouble sleeping is stress and anxiety, poor sleeping habits, physical conditions and medications," Shane said.

Shane was limited by the small number of patients he could see in person each week. Because of the large number of people in the U.S. with insomnia, he thought he could communicate the method in a way that millions of people could use at home, and Sleep Easily was born.

The Sleep Easily method's clarity and effectiveness is due to patients and the constant research and development into their sleep habits, Shane said.

3.How does Sleep Easily work?

Sleep Easily teaches physical triggers that help people sleep, and is packaged with specialized tools to promote this, including a 300-page guidebook.

The point of Sleep Easily is ease-of-use and speed. The book is solely for reference to specific questions regarding sleep, and is not necessary to the method's effectiveness, Shane said.

"The main outcomes are falling asleep easily and quickly, staying asleep, and entering a deeper sleep not through hypnosis or medication," Shane said. "You can relax through physical triggers and a feeling of safety to get away from the stressors in your life, which opens the way to sleep."

4.Is Sleep Easily a cure for insomnia?

Sleep Easily resolves insomnia for the vast majority of people who have used it, but Shane said that he is 'wary about the word cure.' Shane has not yet put out a survey to the general population and can't guarantee that it will work, but he is offering a money-back guarantee.

"You do not need an open mind to use Sleep Easily, and I encourage people to be skeptical," Shane said. "People need proof not promises so read the intro, listen to the recordings and see what happens."

However, Shane conducted multiple studies of Sleep Easily used by the Denver Police Department, the Boulder Fire Department, and United Airline Pilots and 86 percent of participants reported improved sleep within the first two nights.

5.What kind of feedback have you gotten with Sleep Easily?

In the short time that Sleep Easily has been on the market, there has generally been very good feedback, Shane said.

"Sleep is so crucial to being happy in life, and it leads to all other benefits," Shane said. "I think of reaching huge numbers of people to make them all happier and the world a better place."

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